Ex-WWE Star Ryback Reveals His Brock Lesnar Wrestlemania Plan

Ryback left WWE earlier this year, but “The Big Guy” is getting candid about his time in the company, revealing some booking plans that fell through. In particular, Ryback discussed a plan he’s had for the past three years for a match with Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania — a plan that went over Vince McMahon’s head every time it was pitched.

In an interview with Busted Open, Ryback talked about his idea for a six-month build to a match with Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania, which would feature Ryback training in an MMA camp in preparation for a “real fight” with the former UFC champion.

“My idea was, and I went to Vince, I’ve been asking for Brock Lesnar for WrestleMania for the last three years,” Ryback said. “But I told Vince, ‘you have to build me up properly.’ And I go, ‘this pay-per-view, it will break all-time records if you build this match up properly.’ And I asked him, I go, ‘you need to let me go away for six months’ and I go, ‘I live in Las Vegas [Nevada]. MMA is hugely, insanely popular. It’s pretty much the breeding ground here in Las Vegas of MMA.’ I said, ‘let me go join a fight camp, full-time, for six months. We will make it look like I’m about to go out and do a real fight. I come back to WWE though, challenge Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.'”

Ryback added, “Vince just completely, it went over his head and I just remember sitting there dumbfounded. Like, ‘Jesus Christ! You can’t f–king be that out of touch.’ Maybe he didn’t want me to go away for six months or whatnot. I don’t know.”

Source: YouTube

On the one hand, I can definitely see the intrigue in a potential angle of this nature. On the other hand, I’m not sure it would have worked. Ryback wanted to simultaneously be built up properly, but also be left off TV for six months? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense unless WWE is documenting Ryback’s MMA camp throughout his six-month sabbatical. Or if they bring him back in, say, January, and have him go on a tear until Wrestlemania. I guess we’ll never know now. With that said, I do wish Vince McMahon would see the inherent value in a more MMA-esque product, not in terms of in-ring action, but in terms of viewing each match as a legitimate athletic competition/fight. But I know that’s not what everybody would want, considering pro wrestling is a bit of escapism from more realistic kinds of sports.

What do you think? Would Ryback’s idea have worked? Sound off in the comments!